On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court said nothing in the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from redrawing congressional and legislative district boundaries in the middle of a decade. League of United Latin American Citizens v Perry, 05-204. The Court did say that one Texas district, the 23rd, must have its boundaries redrawn, because the redistricting violated the Voting Rights Act as to that one district. The 23rd district borders 5 other districts, so some of them will also have new boundaries. It seems the Texas legislature will be forced to return in a special session to redraw these lines, or perhaps the U.S. District Court in Austin will draw new lines. In that event, the March 2006 primary as to the changed districts is void. All of the districts with changed boundaries are in southwestern Texas. The only large city affected is San Antonio.
Shouldn’t your headline refer to mid-“decade” redistricting?
Prediction: Every spring, as it becomes apparent which incumbent Congresspersons from the party controlling the state legislature are in the most danger from challengers, districts will be redrawn by the state legislature to (a) put more voters from their party in the contested district and (b) redistrict the challenger out of the contested district so s/he must either move residence or be attacked for “living outside the district.” We have just entered a whole new phase of U.S. politics, unless these activities are stopped by voters and democracy-minded legislators, state by state.